Editor’s note: The following interview was conducted by guest writer Chuck Sambuchino, whose bio info can be found below.

Actor Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Aliens, Tombstone) was at Horrorhound Indianapolis the weekend of Sept. 7-9 for two cast reunions—one featuring cast members of The Terminator franchise, and the other assembling the “largest cast reunion ever” for Aliens.

But Michael had more to celebrate than the company of the two reunions. His directorial debut, a grindhouse movie called The Victim, came to DVD this week, on September 18. Michael sat down with us to talk about his new movie, a lot of old ones, and how Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron helped him in taking the leap into directing his first feature.

For the interview, Michael was joined by his wife, Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, who, with him runs Blanc/Biehn Productions. Not only did Michael direct the film, but he and his wife also play the lead roles, and co-produced the movie together. Read what they had to say after the break. Read More »

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For his third film, French genre director Xavier Gens has locked a bunch of New Yorkers in the basement of a building as they wait out the end of the world. But it turns out these people aren’t the only survivors, and interactions with people who didn’t make it to shelter set off a chain of events that probably won’t end well.

The film is The Divide, and those who’ve seen Gens’ first film, Frontier(s), will immediately recognize some common energy and tension. Anchor Bay has released the first full trailer for the film. It builds on the teaser we saw months ago, beginning with more or less the same setup before moving into a montage of action that suggests things get pretty crazy as this group awaits rescue. Check it out below. Read More »

Way back before we knew Chris Evans would become the next Captain America, he took a role in a small indie drama titled Puncture. Directed by Adam and Mark Kassen from a screenplay by Chris Lopta, the film centers around a young, drug-addicted lawyer (Evans) who takes on a case that pits him against a massive healthcare conspiracy. Brett Cullen, Jesse L. Martin, Michael Biehn, Kate Burton, Tess Parker, and Marshall Bell also star, with Vinessa Shaw as Evans’ ER nurse client. Watch the trailer after the jump.

Twenty-five years ago, it was time for war. On July 18, 1986 James Cameron‘s film Aliens exploded into theaters and immediately became one of the few examples of a standout sequel in movie history. Picking up where Ridley Scott‘s Alien left off — with Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley drifting asleep in the sci-fi version of a lifeboat — Aliens emulated its predecessor with character-centric thrills and expanded upon it by visualizing the killer aliens as a bee-like hive society.

The movie celebrates industrial and military design, as in the marine ship Sulacco, which lances through space like an ingenious fusion of rifle and projectile, or the smart guns which transform cinematic equipment (the Steadicam) into weapons. At the same time, it mocks big business (see Paul Reiser‘s sleazy company man Carter Burke) and presumptuous military might.

In a popular film culture dominated by buffed-up male action heroes (Schwarzenegger, Stallone, et al) Aliens dared not only to scorn false machismo, but to weave a gory, violently thrilling story about motherhood. Critics and audiences responded with rapture. Sigourney Weaver earned one of the film’s seven Oscar nominations (it won for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects) and the film owned the box office for four weeks. Aliens is one of the most-emulated films in action and/or science fiction, and arguably James Cameron’s best work. We’ll revisit some key memories of the film after the break.Read More »

When news broke that a pitch was circling Hollywood for a fifth Terminator movie teaming up director Justin Lin (Fast Five) and star Arnold Schwarzenegger, it inspired a full range of emotions. The good ones centered on Lin’s ability to stage awesome, practical action and the possibility of a twisting, turning, awesome time traveling film that could wipe our memories of Terminator: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation. The flip side was the reminder of Terminator: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation. According to the latest rumors, Terminator 5 (or Terminator 2012 as it’s being pitched) might lean towards the earlier films. Latino Review reports that the pitch going around Hollywood not only has Schwarzenegger attached, but the “entire original cast” along with him. Read More »

One of the films premiering in the Midnighters section of SXSW this weekend is Xavier Gens‘ The Divide, about a group of eight strangers who find shelter in a basement when a huge explosion demolishes New York. It’s a fun premise for a psychological thriller, if not exactly an original one, and the first teaser had me curious see how the film would turn out. I still have no idea, of course. But the first 97 seconds of the film have just been released, and so far, it’s looking good. Watch it after the jump.

Mnemovore creator Hans Rodionoff had a treat for fans attending the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland this weekend, as he unveiled 10 minutes of footage from a proposed big screen adaptation of his six-issue comic book series. But it wasn’t a low budget effort, the short reel featured Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes) in the lead role. Rodionoff will be directing the film based on his own screenplay. Rodionoff also confirmed that Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) is officially on board as Executive Producer. Apparently Rodionoff filmed the demo reel at the behest of del Toro in order to demonstrate his abilities as a film director. Rodionoff made his filmmaking debut with the no-budget Troma horror comedy Sucker.

Mnemovore is a “horror” comic that ran monthly from April 2005 under DC’s Vertigo imprint. The plot focused on Kaley, an amnesiac former professional snow boarder who makes a terrifying discovery. Her snowboarding accident sets her up in the unique position to battle a centuries-old Lovecraftian entity that feeds on the memories of mankind. She must fight to protect the loved ones she no longer remembers. It’s a story about memory, identity, and a secret horror.

According to Comics2film, the footage showed Kaley (played by Kristen Bell) in an exchange between with “her therapist (played by ‘Terminator’ star Michael Biehn) and leads up to her first horrific encounter with the psyche-eating monster.” The footage is said to have been “well received by the fans.”

It is not clear if Bell or Biehn would be available for the eventual feature film production, although, I’m sure they didn’t participate in this test purely as a favor. But who knows with schedules, especially considering that the movie has yet to find funding. I hope that the footage somehow leaks online for everyone to see. It sounds like an interesting enough idea, with a good potential cast, and some great creative forces behind it. I’ll have to pick this series up next trip to the comic book store.

Some new photos from Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez’ zombie horror segment of the much hyped double feature have turned up online. Check out the images below (after the jump). As always, left click for higher res.